<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Gabriel Gray by interabang</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26549200">Gabriel Gray</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/interabang/pseuds/interabang'>interabang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Heroes (TV 2006)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Character Death, Child Death, Dark, Gen, Horror, Murder</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2009-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2009-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:01:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,524</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26549200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/interabang/pseuds/interabang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly's friend tells her a modern urban legend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mohinder Suresh &amp; Molly Walker</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gabriel Gray</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A/N: Written for <a href="https://barhaven.livejournal.com/">barhaven</a>.</p>
<p>A/N II: These events are supposed to take place in the future, when Molly is back in NYC and living with Matt, Daphne, and possibly Mohinder. She is supposed to be about 12 or 13 years old in this fic.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Gabriel Gray.<br/><br/>“Gabriel Gray.<br/><br/>“Gabriel Gray.”<br/><br/>Scott grins, his braces catching the glint of the sun as his eyes crinkle up in amusement and obvious pride.<br/><br/>“There. <em>Told</em> you I could do it.”<br/><br/>He’s standing on the blacktop, hands on his hips, trying to look as big and strong as he can.<br/><br/>Molly knows better. She knows his heart is pounding and that his hands are sweating. When he shifts to adjust the straps on his backpack, he sneakily wipe his palms against his faded jeans.<br/><br/>Scott is the first kid Molly’s been friends with for the longest time since she moved back to New York. Scott has been trying to impress her ever since they started hanging out during lunch and gym class together.<br/><br/>So when that jerk Ryan had come up to them and whispered about the name, and how you’re supposed to say it three times when you’re outside, Molly knew that Scott wasn’t going to back down from a challenge.<br/><br/>She looks away from him when he tries to catch her attention with his squinted eyes.<br/><br/>She would have told him to stop chanting as soon as he started, but her voice had caught in her throat, and now she still can’t speak. It’s like she’d been punched into the gut, hearing <em>his</em> name over and over again. When Ryan had first casually said the name, Molly felt like she couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t do...<br/><br/>Couldn't do <em>anything</em><br/><br/>“See how lame it is?” Ryan scoffs, reaching out to shove Scott aside as he saunters past him. “Used to be you’d just have to stand in front of a mirror to say corny names like that, but the stories we hear nowadays are even shittier than the old ones.”<br/><br/>When he’s out of earshot, Molly forces herself to look back at Scott. He’s already calmed down a bit, flashing a tough-guy grin at her.<br/><br/>“You shouldn’t have done that,” Molly tells him solemnly, her voice hoarse.<br/><br/>“Why not?” Scott cocks his head to the side, his smile beginning to fade. “He’s not real.”<br/><br/>Molly closes her eyes, but… No.<br/><br/>She can’t. She can’t bring herself to do it.<br/><br/>She knows that <em>he’s</em> out there right now, but she doesn’t want to know exactly where he is.</p>
<p>Instead of responding to Scott, Molly jerks, snapping her eyes open. Immediately afterward, she runs away, tearing across the crowded blacktop before her friend can move to stop her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Molly turns, and she finds herself on the basketball court outside of her school.<br/><br/>There’s no one around. The sun is out, but it’s blocked by a cloud, and she shivers from the slight chill in the air.<br/><br/>Scott’s around. She knows he’s nearby. Yet she can’t see him.<br/><br/>She can’t see <em>anybody</em>.<br/><br/>There should be people out here with her. There should other kids her age, laughing and running around and getting as much out of the last few days of summer as they can. The air shouldn’t be as cold as it is right now. The light from the sky shouldn’t be dimming so much.<br/><br/>Suddenly, there’s a light crackling noise nearby.<br/><br/>Molly whirls around as she scans the court.<br/><br/>She breathes deeply in relief. It’s just a bunch of leaves, skittering along the concrete as they’re being tossed about by the wind.<br/><br/>And yet…<br/><br/>Molly hears a low, raspy voice in her ear as someone – some<em>thing</em> - presses close behind her.<br/><br/>“<em><b>I can <span class="u">see</span> you.</b></em>”<br/><br/>Molly shrieks.<br/><br/>Her blanket slips off the mattress and tumbles down to the floor in a heap.<br/><br/>Her hair’s in her face, her eyes are wet, and she’s shivering all over. It’s only a couple more seconds before Matt and Daphne come racing into her room to soothe her. Daphne smooths her hair back and whispers to her that it’s okay, it’s all okay, and no one is going to hurt her.<br/><br/>As Molly clutches onto Daphne and draws her, warm and comforting, closer into a desperate hug, she thinks to herself:<br/><br/><em>It’s not me I’m worried about.</em><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>The next day, Scott doesn’t show up at school.<br/><br/>The day after that, he’s still not there. Molly leans against the cold bricks of the gym as she watches her classmates cavorting about. She looks over at Ryan, who’s talking to a group of huddled girls. Their eyes get wider and wider as Ryan talks, his voice distant.<br/><br/>He stops to look over at Molly.<br/><br/>She shudders, and pulls her knees up to her chin.<br/><br/>In class, she lets her eyes flutter to a close and she pulls out her last resort. She scans the neighborhood for him, the city, the world…<br/><br/>She nearly cries out when she realizes that he’s not there.<br/><br/>He’s not <em>anywhere</em>.<br/><br/>All she can see is darkness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Molly!” Mohinder’s voice sounds so warm, so happy, even over the fuzzy phone connection.<br/><br/>She hesitates. She doesn’t even know where to begin.<br/><br/>Lowering her voice to a whisper, she tightens her grip onto her cell phone and draws in a deep, shaky breath.<br/><br/>“Can – Can I come see you, Mohinder?”<br/><br/>Even without her power, she can picture him narrowing his eyes as he shuffles some papers around.<br/><br/>“Something bad happened,” she continues. “I’m – I’m really scared.”<br/><br/>“I’ll get there as soon as I can.”<br/><br/>Molly doesn’t argue with this. She could have waited to get home, to tell Matt and Daphne what happened, but… for some reason, she wants to talk to Mohinder, and right now.<br/><br/>She presses the red button on the phone to end the call, and hurries out of the girl’s bathroom and back to her last class as fast as her feet will allow her.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>“It’s a friend of mine.” Molly bites her lip. “He’s gone missing. I… I can’t find him, Mohinder. I think - ”<br/><br/>He cuts her off, kneeling down to her height and placing his hands on her arms to calm her. She appreciates the gesture, but she can already feel the tears welling up in her eyes.<br/><br/>“We’ll sort this out,” he tells her gently.<br/><br/>“It’s so <em>stupid</em>!” she suddenly cries out in a burst of sudden anger. “I don’t know why Scott had to do it. It’s all Ryan’s fault, he just wanted to scare us, and Scott didn’t want to look like he was afraid, and… And…”<br/><br/>“Slow down,” Mohinder says, but his voice is still calm and soothing. “What happened, exactly?”<br/><br/>Molly hiccups quietly, wet tracks starting to run down her cheeks.<br/><br/>Then, she lifts her head to look up at Mohinder’s face.<br/><br/>She thinks that he already knows what has happened. Wiping her face with the back of her hand, Molly whispers:<br/><br/>“I think the Boogey Man got him.”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Molly lies in bed, listening to Matt and Daphne arguing in the next room. She blinks slowly, feeling too weak to cry anymore, to lift her arm up so that she can wipe her nose with her sleeve. She can hear the wind beginning to grow stronger outside. It’s not shrieking like it does sometimes during the night, but it will start to howl soon.<br/><br/>Soon.<br/><br/>“We can’t go to the authorities about this,” Molly hears Matt insist, his voice raised and strained at the same time. “I’m sorry, but we can’t.”<br/><br/>“Well, what do you think we should do?!” Daphne cries. “Just let this whole thing go? What if – What if he…”<br/><br/>“He won’t.”<br/><br/>Their voices fade away. Molly wants to turn over onto her side, but she can’t. She’s so scared for Scott, for what had happened to him. She’s scared that other kids in her school will listen to Ryan, will follow through on his dares just like Scott did, and worse – what if some of them already did so, at the beginning of the school year?<br/><br/>Molly squeezes her eyes shut, and focuses on Mohinder.<br/><br/>He’s at her school, alone. She can barely see him, it’s so dark. He’s standing still, his jacket fluttering in the breeze. If she concentrates hard enough, she can make out his lone figure in the deserted parking lot, his feet firmly planted on the ground and his hands resting in his pockets.<br/><br/>Molly’s power can only go so far, though. She can’t hear people when she thinks about them; she can only tell where they are and maybe, just maybe, she can see what they’re doing. What they look like. Molly strains to get a closer look at Mohinder’s face.<br/><br/>His expression is set, and his eyes are resolute. He...<br/><br/>She pulls back from the scene, too weary to push her ability any further than she already has. She rests her head against her pillow, breathing quickly and shallowly, wishing that she could see what Mohinder is about to do.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Blocks and blocks away from Molly, Mohinder stands alone in front of her school. He looks around for any sign of movement. All he can see are the dim lights from the lampposts and a lone figure hurriedly making its way down the street, walking away from him.<br/><br/>Then, he opens his mouth, and says to the cool night air:<br/><br/>“Gabriel Gray.<br/><br/>“Gabriel Gray.<br/><br/>“<em>Gabriel Gray</em>.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>